1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of refrigerators and, more particularly, to an assembly, adapted to be arranged beneath a refrigerator cabinet, which includes structure for automatically closing or selectively maintaining open a supported refrigerator door, as well as structure for leveling of the overall refrigerator cabinet.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In the construction of refrigerators, it known in the art to provide biased door closure devices. Essentially, a spring or another mechanism is employed to give a small degree of resistance when force is used open a refrigerator. Such a system is necessary to prevent inadvertent opening of the refrigerator. Additionally, the biased door closure device also functions to close the door when left in the open position. In traditional systems, an arm is affixed at one end to the refrigerator door and at the other end to a spring, which is then connected to a part of the refrigerator cabinet. When the door is closed, the spring is compressed and in its relaxed position. When the door is opened, the arm is moved such that the spring is stretched, thus providing a closing force.
With a simple straight arm, there is a constant force biasing the door closed. While this is useful to ensure that the door closes automatically to both conserve energy and prevent spoilage of food contained within the refrigerator, it is impossible to maintain the door in an open position without holding the door open. Nevertheless, it is often beneficial to be able to leave the refrigerator door open without either holding or propping the door open. For example, when loading many items into or taking many items out of the refrigerator, it is largely inconvenient to have to open the door repeatedly. Moreover, cleaning the interior of the refrigerator becomes difficult because the door is constantly closing on the person cleaning the refrigerator.
Altering the configuration of the arm from a straight length creates an over-center reaction in the door. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,392,689 to Peglow discloses a curved arm used in an automatic door closure. This arm is curved such that, when the door is closed, the included spring assists in maintaining the door closed. When the door it initially opened, the spring gives a small amount of resistance sufficient to re-close the door when the opening force is removed. However, because the arm is curved, when the door is opened beyond a certain angle or degree, the specific shape of the curved arm actually biases the arm to a more open position. As a result, the spring is stretched as the door opens to this point, and is allowed to compress when the door is opened beyond this point. Accordingly, because the spring compresses as the door is opened to its widest position, the spring biases the door open.
Because refrigerators are often quite heavy, providing a wheel or other rolling assembly is particularly advantageous. Therefore, it has become a customary practice to equip such heavy domestic appliances with wheel assemblies to enhance mobility. When provided with a supporting wheel assembly, a heavy refrigerator can be readily moved by a single person to prepare for installation, repair, cleaning and other purposes.
Often times, it is also desirable to permit some degree of vertical adjustability between the refrigerator and the supporting surface. Specifically, it is desirable to enable leveling of a refrigerator. While the majority of household appliances are generally positioned on surfaces which are relatively level, it has still been found beneficiary to provide some vertical adjustability of the wheel assemblies to ensure precise leveling of the refrigerator. This is particularly advantageous when applied to a typical refrigerator such that the front portion of the refrigerator can be slightly elevated to ensure that the doors will open and close as desired, and not hinder the action of included door springs.
However, each of the systems described above is separate and distinct from one another such that multiple systems must be separately integrated into a refrigerator cabinet during manufacturing. As a result, time and expense are required during manufacturing in order to correctly install those systems. Therefore, there exists a need in the art for a quickly and easily installable assembly incorporating the advantages of both an over-center door closure and a vertically adjustable support.